Mandarin learning guide
Learn with 很久以後
This guide follows the lyrics as they move from regret and acceptance toward a future “long after” a breakup. The repeated “很久很久很久以后” frames the song’s key language for distance in time and emotional healing.
What to listen for
The lyrics speak in a reflective first-person voice, using repeated 也许 to soften claims and 可能/只能 to show uncertainty and acceptance. Across the song, the speaker contrasts what is true now with what might feel different 很久以后, so learners can study how Mandarin marks doubt, concession, and gradual emotional change in compact, natural lines.
- Recognize how 也许 and 可能 express uncertainty without sounding abrupt.
- Understand how the song contrasts present pain with a later, calmer perspective.
- Use key sentence patterns for concession, consequence, and future condition.
How the song moves
Opening reflection
The lyrics begin with mixed feelings: unwillingness, regret, disbelief, and the sense that the speaker has already given everything.
Acceptance and self-adjustment
The song moves into facing the breakup, being no longer young, and pushing toward independence.
Future-facing refrain
Repeated lines about 很久很久很久以后 imagine a later time when the speaker may be able to smile, wave, and accept the separation.
Closure and fading pain
The ending says time will take memories away and the hurt will no longer feel painful, ending with a plain greeting to a former lover as long-lost friends.
Translation choices
也许是不甘心 也许是可惜
- Natural English
- Maybe it’s unwillingness, maybe it’s regret.
- Why
- This keeps the paired 也许…也许… structure and the short, hesitant tone of the original.
失去你的人生 我像一棵树被拔了根
- Natural English
- Losing you has left my life like a tree uprooted.
- Why
- The image of 被拔了根 is metaphorical, and “uprooted” preserves the force of the comparison without overexplaining it.
时间会把回忆慢慢偷走
- Natural English
- Time will slowly steal memories away.
- Why
- 偷走 is personified in Chinese, and “steal away” matches the gradual, involuntary loss in the line.
Useful Mandarin from the song
Used to soften a statement and show uncertainty. In the song it appears repeatedly to present feelings as possibilities rather than fixed conclusions.
This is a concession pattern: the speaker denies one interpretation and then replaces it with a different one. It helps express nuance in disagreement or self-correction.
This phrase narrows options and conveys resignation or necessity. In the lyric it shows the speaker accepting a difficult condition and acting accordingly.
This strong negative future form states a complete end to a state or feeling. Here it marks the imagined disappearance of pain in the future.
Listen closely
- Listen for how 也许 repeats to keep the tone uncertain, gentle, and reflective rather than absolute.
- Notice the repeated 很久很久很久以后: it marks a far-off future and separates present pain from imagined later calm.
- Pay attention to contrast words like 但, 不过, and 只是; they often turn the lyric from emotion into acceptance.
Check your understanding
Which phrase shows the speaker’s concession in L0005?
Show answer
不是不能
In the lyrics, what does 很久很久很久以后 help express?
Show answer
A far-off later time when feelings may have changed.